[3] The species has a complex population structure, comprising three major and two minor forms with different morphology, anatomy, geographical distribution, and period of spawning.

[3][4][7] The smaller forms have no dorsal photophore patches and tend to reside in the equatorial waters (10 – 15 º N and S) of the Indonesian-Pacific Oceans, in which it spends the majority of its life in the upper mixed layers.

[9][6][7] Total species biomass has been estimated at between 8-11 million tonnes; the Arabian Sea from November-January is thought to contain one of the highest concentrations (12 to 42 t km−2) of these squids due to population dynamics.

[3] In October 2020, during a seafloor mapping survey in a then-unexplored area of the Gulf of Aqaba in the Northern Red Sea Region, a team of oceanographers and other scientists with OceanX encountered a lone specimen of S. oualaniensis with their remotely-operated underwater vehicle (ROV);[10] while investigating the sunken remains of the Egyptian cargo ship "Pella", which sunk in 2011 (with one reported fatality), OceanX was able to capture clear, full-body images of the squid as it swam in front of the ROV.

[10] Purpleback flying squids, which are thought to be both predators and prey, are considered both because throughout their life they are constantly changing, with continuous body-size increases allowing them to fulfill different trophic levels on the taxonomic and ecological spectrum in consideration of their food organisms, enemies and parasites.

[11] Beaks are an important morphological characteristic; they can be used to identify and classify a species as they are easy to see with the naked eye and do not break down in the stomachs of predators.

[11] This feeding organ tears up and bites food, and throughout the squid's life, the characteristics of a beak can change as a result of ontogenetic states.

[6] They can gather into shoals ranging in size from two to 800 individuals, and in some cases in which geographical distributions overlap, they can travel within similar-sized schools of Dosidicus gigas and Ommastrephes bartramii.

[6] Juveniles or post-paralarvae can feed on mesoplanktonic and macroplanktonic invertebrates, which mainly include copepods, euphausiids, amphipods and chaetognaths, as well as micronekton fishes (mainly myctophids) and squids, as their mantle length cane range between 10 and 80 mm.

[6] Juveniles that have a mantle lengths of 3 to 12 mm are preyed on by large Humboldt squids Dosidicus gigas, dolphinfishes Coryphaena hippurus, C. equisetis, the snake mackerel Gempylus serpens, the lancet fish Alepisaurus ferox and many species of tuna.