At maturity, they are about six cm long. The eggs hatch in four to nine months. The eggs receive no parental care. Juveniles hatch out as miniature adults and soon begin feeding on small crustaceans. They live only two years from egg to spawning adult.
Adults mostly eat live shrimp they catch with their two long tentacles.
They eat with a horny beak inside their mouths, located underneath the body at the center of the arms. There may be several reasons they can survive there. Deposition from rivers may be capping polluted sediments. Another survival factor may be the stubby squid's ability to produce copious quantities of mucus, which may protect it from the sediments like a thick Jello jacket. The Seattle Aquarium has kept them continuously on display for more than 10 years.