It is slightly larger than the closely related species Ornithoteuthis antillarum of the Atlantic Ocean.

The suckers near the base have severely closely set teeth, of which the middle 1-3 are much more slender and sharply pointed.

The suckers towards the tip have less than 7 teeth which are separated, slender triangular and sharply pointed except ventral-most on either side which has a wider and less quadrangular shape.

The outer third of the arm has 25 pairs of suckers which have their bases swollen into transverse, membranous papillae.

Its latitudinal range in the western Pacific lies between 36°N to 38°S[1] and it extends as far east as the Line Islands,[3] while in the Indian Ocean it ranges from the Arabian Sea south to Madagascar and east to the Timor Sea, south to the waters off eastern Australia.

They occur near the botton in the bathyal zone but in midwater above the continental slope and above sea mounts and ridges.

off eastern Australia spawning takes place in the deeper shelf and upper continental slope waters that sit within the warm East Australian Current which originates in the tropics, the size distribution of paralarvae and adults suggests that spawning in occurs throughout the year in this area.

In the western North Pacific Ocean this species spawns in the summer and its paralarvae are found in the Kuroshio Current off Japan.

Its predators include numerous species of tropical and subtropical pelagic fish such as yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), longnose lancetfish (Alepisaurus ferox), dolphinfish (Coryphaena hyppurus) and swordfish (Xiphias gladius).