Male squid have a specialized arm used to transfer sperm to females called hectocotyli.

[4] Squid in the Pyroteuthidae family live in the mesopelagic (midwater or twilight zone) during the day.

[7] There is little knowledge about the life history of these squid due to the difficulties in studying them, but research on P. gemmata estimated its maximum age to be 78 days, and it is presumed that others in the Pyroteuthidae family have similar life-spans.

Based on data from a study conducted in Hawaii, it was  proposed that P. giardi might be a facultative-boundary species, which means that it can live in the boundary between the mesopelagic and neritic (coastal) zones but does not have to in order to survive.

However, they list the need for further research into species-specific population size and dynamics, life history, ecology, and threats.