Lampadioteuthis megaleia is a small, colorful squid, the only species in the only genus in the monotypic family Lampadioteuthidae.

It was formerly classified in the family Lycoteuthidae, but differs from them mainly by having a hectocotylus in the males and by the possession of a rostrum on the gladius.

Lampadioteuthis megaleia is a small squid which grows to a mantle length of 40 mm.

[4] Little is known about its life history but the violet pigmentation in the skin lying over its photophores is assumed to act as a colour filter which enables the bioluminescence to be a closer match to the colour of the sun or moonlight downwelling from the surface.

The photophores of species of squid in the genus Lycoteuthis have a very similar type of detached filter.