Rare octopus in Calif. breeding attempt

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SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- San Francisco's California Academy of Sciences says it hopes to raise and mate a species of octopus so rare it hasn't yet been assigned a scientific name.

The academy's senior biologist has set up a home aquarium to attempt to mate what is currently called the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus -- despite its name a rather small species of octopus.

A 100-gallon aquarium in a spare bedroom in Richard Ross's Alameda home holds two females and three males that measure between 8 and 10 inches from the tip of one outstretched arm to another, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The creatures were unknown to science until about 20 years ago, when a Panamanian biologist diving off the coast of Nicaragua first described them.

Ross says if he is successful in mating and rearing enough of his rare octopuses, he plans to move some into the Steinhart Aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences, "so the public can see those rare animals too."