A recent benthonic foraminiferal population consisting of 144 species from an interacting marine‐estuarine environment has been analysed by Q‐mode cluster analysis to reveal biotopes. Simplification of the total populations, both in terms of abundance and occurrence, discloses that the more significant subpopulation is composed of the widely‐occurring species. Subpopulations based on rarely occurring but locally abundant species do not define meaningful biotopes.