Octopus aquaculture projects are already in the planning stages on continents around the globe, but one group of scientists wants planners and policy makers to pump the breaks.

"We are all living during the rapid domestication of aquatic species and research is almost entirely around the question of which aquatic animals we can farm, rather than which animals we should farm," Jennifer Jacquet, an assistant professor of environmental science at New York University, said in a news release.

Jacquet is the lead author of a critical analysis of octopus farming published this week in the journal Issues in Science and Technology.