  1057 globular cluster candidates have been identified in a WFPC2 image of the
inner region of M87. The Globular Cluster Luminosity Function (GCLF) can be
well fit by a Gaussian profile with a mean value of m_V^0=23.67 +/- 0.07 mag
and sigma=1.39 +/- 0.06 mag (compared to m_V^0=23.74 mag and sigma=1.44 mag
from an earlier study using the same data by Whitmore it et al. 1995). The GCLF
in five radial bins is found to be statistically the same at all points,
showing no clear evidence of dynamical destruction processes based on the
luminosity function (LF), in contradiction to the claim by Gnedin (1997).
Similarly, there is no obvious correlation between the half light radius of the
clusters and the galactocentric distance. The core radius of the globular
cluster density distribution is R_c=56'', considerably larger than the core of
the stellar component (R_c=6.8''). The mean color of the cluster candidates is
V-I=1.09 mag which corresponds to an average metallicity of Fe/H = -0.74 dex.
The color distribution is bimodal everywhere, with a blue peak at V-I=0.95 mag
and a red peak at V-I=1.20 mag. The red population is only 0.1 magnitude bluer
than the underlying galaxy, indicating that these clusters formed late in the
metal enrichment history of the galaxy and were possibly created in a burst of
star/cluster formation 3-6 Gyr after the blue population. We also find that
both the red and the blue cluster distributions have a more elliptical shape
(Hubble type E3.5) than the nearly spherical galaxy. The average half light
radius of the clusters is ~2.5 pc which is comparable to the 3 pc average
effective radius of the Milky Way clusters, though the red candidates are ~20%
smaller than the blue ones.
