KODIAK -- State and federal researchers are partnering with Alaska divers to learn more about octopus in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea.

Octopuses are caught accidentally in other fisheries and can be sold, but there are no directed fisheries except by special permit in state waters.

Prices to fishermen for octopus range from about 65 cents to 90 cents a pound; it fetches a buck a pound sold as halibut bait.

More market demand is boosting interest in Alaska octopus, but before any fishery can occur, more needs to be known about them.

"If there is something in a fishery management plan that is sold for market, the law requires that we must set an annual catch limit on it. We have very little information on octopus from which to set a catch limit," said project leader Elizabeth Connors at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Seattle.

Learning about octopus reproductive seasons is the place to start, Connors said. The best guess is that octopus in the Gulf and Bering Sea have distinct reproductive seasons, with mating in late summer to early fall, spawning into the winter, and incubation into early spring.

The researchers also aim to learn if Alaska octopus have a seasonal migration pattern, as they do in Japan.

Of the seven or eight octopus species found in Alaska, Connors said, the project will focus on the giant Pacific octopus, which can weigh more than 50 pounds.

Researchers are asking divers near Kodiak, Dutch Harbor and Juneau to watch for octopus, and to note the size, general location, time and date, and whether other octopus are in the vicinity.

Connors said researchers are especially interested in sightings of octopus dens containing eggs.

"They lay big long strings of eggs that look like grains of rice on a string -- and they'll hang from the roof of the den," Connors told KDLG.

The scientists will begin paying monthly visits to octopus dens starting next fall.

The Alaska Department of Fish & Game will provide specimens and test new octopus pot gear. The North Pacific Research Board is funding the octopus project.