The paralarvae inhabit the upper few hundred metres of the water column, the epipelagic zone. Their eyes are laterally compressed and they have a rostrum, the rostrum and the lateral compression allow the opaque eyes to be concealed in the squid's otherwise transparent body. The paralarval eyes are what give this species both its most common vernacular name, sandal-eyed squid and its generic name of Sandalops.
The paralarvae live in the upper few hundred meters of the water column, the epipelagic zone. Their eyes are laterally compressed and they have a rostrum, which is what gives them their common name "sandal-eyed squid" and their scientific name "Sandalops."