<p>The distribution of ichthyoplankton, which represents a critical period in the early life history of fish, is a key factor in ecosystem-based management and conservation. The efficacy of sampling designs that consider community dissimilarity in ichthyoplankton communities has not been thoroughly evaluated, leaving their impacts on perceptions of community structure uncertain. The MultSE index (dissimilarity-based multivariate standard error) has proved to be effective for comparing sampling efforts, particularly in accounting for the multifaceted and high-dimensional structure of communities. In the coastal waters of the central and southern Yellow Sea, the performance of different sampling designs for ichthyoplankton was assessed using the MultSE index from a community perspective under varying sampling efforts. This study compared six sampling methods across ten gradients of sampling efforts. The results indicated pronounced differences in MultSE among sampling designs, with stratified random sampling design with three strata (StRS3) and systematic sampling design (SYS) outperforming other four designs. The optimal sample size, determined by declination and <i>k</i> value, indicated that all sampling designs could meet precision requirements at low to medium sample sizes. The comparison of communities across different seasons revealed that the required sampling efforts was similar, despite obvious differences in species composition, number of species and alpha diversity index. This study expanded the applicability of MultSE index to ichthyoplankton communities by integrating considerations of sampling design. It highlights the necessity of accounting for variability between sampling designs to achieve more precise results when sample sizes are inadequate. The modeling framework can be applied to other taxa and marine regions, providing crucial information and valuable insights for the development of future sampling programs.</p>