Appendix:  Potential target species for the SEACOOS domain. ·    Reef fishes in general, Gag and Red Grouper in particular: Gag Grouper (and other reef fishes) spend their adult lives offshore and their juvenile phases in nearshore and inshore seagrass beds or oyster reefs.  Evidence exists on adult spawning regions (shelf break) and times (late winter to spring) as well as on the juvenile settlement times (late spring to summer).  However, the 3D pathways and mechanisms by which the larvae transit to settlement, both of these being significant factors in larval survival and recruitment, remain to be determined.   ·    Shallow and Deep coral reefs: habitat characterization and restoration of shallow coral reefs, as well as deep Oculina and Lophelia coral reefs require understanding the physical and biological processes determining the environment at the shelf-edge, over the shelf, and near the coast, including the importance of self-seeding, sensitivity to changes in feeding and hydrographic fields, connectivity with other parts of a larger ecosystem, regional water quality, etc. ·    Interactions and linkages between various populations; scallops in particular:  Bivalves such as scallops and other commercial species are not distributed uniformly along the coast.  Are there relationships between species distributions and the seasonally varying currents and other physical factors such as temperature and salinity? Are there significant inter-annual variations that impact these population linkages and resultant abundances? ·    Forage species and their role in supporting pelagic species biomass: Pelagic fishes depend on the abundances and distributions of smaller forage species. What environmental factors control the abundances and distributions of the forage species and thus the migrations/distributions of the pelagic species? ·    Species life history for those fish that spend part of their life in the estuaries and part offshore, i.e., estuarine-dependent species such as mullet, menhaden, spot, flounder,  croaker, gag, gray snapper, Spanish mackerel, etc.: Specific pathways (to be determined) exist between the major estuaries and the coastal ocean that depend on buoyancy (salinity in particular), winds and tides.  Mullet, menhaden and others may be target species; however, this topic pertains to many commercially and recreationally important species.  Modeling and observational tools presently exist to make this a tractable problem for scientific investigation. ·    The benthic connection, e.g., shrimp:  Three-dimensional studies must include the benthos since the bottom boundary layer likely provides an important connection in the general pathways/mechanisms framework.  Hence primary and secondary productivity within the bottom boundary layer is likely important for the higher trophic levels considered above.   Shrimp, as a commercially important species provides a focus. 13