When divers stir them up from their daytime rest the squid will jet away, leaving a blob of ink in its place. Sometimes a diver just sees the ink blob and knows a squid is somewhere in the area. 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.