Glow Squid
passiveOurs, not the game's own: how a glow squid behaves. Bedrock v1.26.40.05 differs: groups of 4 to 6 on Java against 2 to 4 on Bedrock. Checked 2026-08-22, and here is how we check.
Added InOverview
The Glow Squid is a passive mob in Minecraft, which means it will never attack a player and simply goes about its own behaviour.
Glow Squids make their home in the Overworld, turning up in Underground water.
In practice you will recognise it quickly, because swims aimlessly underwater, emits a glow texture but no actual light.
It carries 10 health points, 5 hearts, and yields 1 to 3 experience when it dies.
The Glow Squid has been part of the game since version 1.17.
The reason to seek out the Glow Squid is what it leaves behind: Glow Ink Sac, which is worth more than the fight it puts up.
Spawning
Natural spawns for the Glow Squid occur in Underground water.
Almost every biome is on that list, 53 of them, so the biome is not what limits the Glow Squid; the condition below is.
Spawns in water in complete darkness (light level 0) below Y=30.
The light-level requirement is the key detail: it needs light level 0 to appear, so adjusting block light is the simplest way to control where it shows up.
Height matters too: these spawns are tied to around Y=30, so the vertical slice you build or explore at directly affects how many you encounter.
With no attack to worry about, the Glow Squid is something you gather rather than fight, and since it does not breed, every one you want has to come from a fresh spawn.
Badlands
Bamboo Jungle
Beach
Birch Forest
Cherry Grove
Cold Ocean
Dark Forest
Deep Cold Ocean
Deep Frozen Ocean
Deep Lukewarm Ocean
Deep Ocean
Desert
Dripstone Caves
Eroded Badlands
Flower Forest
Forest
Frozen Ocean
Frozen Peaks
Frozen River
Grove
Ice Spikes
Jagged Peaks
Jungle
Lukewarm Ocean
Lush Caves
Mangrove Swamp
Meadow
Mushroom Fields
Ocean
Old Growth Birch Forest
Old Growth Pine Taiga
Old Growth Spruce Taiga
Pale Garden
Plains
River
Savanna
Savanna Plateau
Snowy Beach
Snowy Plains
Snowy Slopes
Snowy Taiga
Sparse Jungle
Stony Peaks
Stony Shore
Sunflower Plains
Swamp
Taiga
Warm Ocean
Windswept Forest
Windswept Gravelly Hills
Windswept Hills
Windswept Savanna
Wooded BadlandsIt is not alone on those biome lists: the bat, which turns up on all 53 of them and the spider, on 52 of these 53.
Where the Glow Squid spawns
Badlands, Bamboo Jungle, Beach and Birch Forest are where it stands strongest: weight 10 on the underground water list and 100% of it, arriving 4 to 6 at a time. That is the whole list.
| Biome | Weight | Share | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badlands | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Bamboo Jungle | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Beach | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Birch Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Cherry Grove | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Cold Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Dark Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Deep Cold Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Deep Frozen Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Deep Lukewarm Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Deep Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Desert | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Dripstone Caves | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Eroded Badlands | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Flower Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Frozen Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Frozen Peaks | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Frozen River | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Grove | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Ice Spikes | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Jagged Peaks | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Jungle | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Lukewarm Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Lush Caves | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Mangrove Swamp | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Meadow | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Mushroom Fields | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Old Growth Birch Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Old Growth Pine Taiga | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Old Growth Spruce Taiga | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Pale Garden | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Plains | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| River | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Savanna | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Savanna Plateau | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Snowy Beach | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Snowy Plains | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Snowy Slopes | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Snowy Taiga | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Sparse Jungle | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Stony Peaks | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Stony Shore | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Sunflower Plains | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Swamp | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Taiga | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Warm Ocean | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Windswept Forest | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Windswept Gravelly Hills | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Windswept Hills | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Windswept Savanna | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
| Wooded Badlands | 10 | 100% | 4 to 6 |
Drops
Here is what you can expect to collect from a Glow Squid:
Every kill yields 1 to 3 Glow Ink Sac.
In terms of experience, each kill is worth 1 to 3 XP orbs.
These are well worth keeping. Glow Ink Sacs are used to make glowing signs and Glow Item Frames.
Since every item here is guaranteed, the only variable is quantity, which makes this mob a dependable, low-variance source of what it carries.
As a harmless mob, the Glow Squid is best gathered opportunistically while you explore, and there is no danger in collecting from it, so it rarely justifies a dedicated trip.
| Item | Count | Chance | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glow Ink Sac | 1 to 3 | always | Looting III up to 6 |
Glow Squid attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
 Size | 0.8 x 0.8 blocks |
 Eye height | 0.4 blocks |
 Tracking range | 10 chunks |
| Follow range | 16 blocks |
 Health | 10 points |
 Experience | 1 to 3 |
The Glow Squid does not stand alone on these numbers: the squid, level with it on health, follow range and experience alike.
Glow Squid: 80.3% of its category, rank 2 of 52
On 53 of the 66 biome lists (53 spawn entries in total), and 80.3% of every spawn the game puts in its underground water group is a glow squid.
32 glow squid kills fill a stack of 64 Glow Ink Sac, because the ranges Minecraft Java 26.2 rolls for it come out at 2 per kill before Looting.
| Item | Average per kill |
|---|---|
 Glow Ink Sac | 2 |
How this average is worked out
| Weapon | Attack damage | Full swings | Swings per 64 Glow Ink Sac |
|---|---|---|---|
 golden sword, wooden sword | 4 | 3 | 96 |
 stone sword | 5 | 2 | 64 |
 iron sword | 6 | 2 | 64 |
 diamond sword, golden axe, wooden axe | 7 | 2 | 64 |
 netherite sword | 8 | 2 | 64 |
 diamond axe, iron axe, stone axe | 9 | 2 | 64 |
 netherite axe | 10 | 1 | 32 |
Behavior & Combat
Swims aimlessly underwater, emits a glow texture but no actual light. Stops glowing briefly when damaged.
Its 10 health is 53rd of 80, just over the 8 of the sheep.
Because it never attacks, you are in no danger from it directly; the Glow Squid simply goes about its routine.
The Glow Squid cannot be bred, so the only way to get more is to find them spawning naturally in their home biomes.
It is a water-dwelling creature and will suffocate if it ends up on dry land, so keeping it in water is essential if you want to transport or keep one.
All told, the Glow Squid is a low-risk part of the world that rewards patience more than aggression.
Glow Squid commands
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| /summon minecraft:glow_squid | Puts a glow squid on the block you are standing on. |
| /give @p minecraft:glow_squid_spawn_egg | Hands you the glow squid spawn egg, so you can place glow squid where you want them. |
| /kill @e[type=minecraft:glow_squid] | Removes every glow squid that is loaded around you. |
Entity id minecraft:glow_squid, spawn egg minecraft:glow_squid_spawn_egg.
Glow Squid farm
Build a glow squid farm around the one rule the game applies to every glow squid. Spawns in water in complete darkness (light level 0) below Y=30.
The glow squid is heaviest in Badlands at 100%, out of the 53 biome spawn lists it stands on, so a glow squid farm belongs there rather than in the first cave you find.
Each roll brings 4 to 6 glow squid at once, which is why a glow squid farm wants floor area rather than height.
Each kill is worth 1 to 3 experience and up to 3 glow ink sac, or 6 with Looting III, and that figure is what decides how big the glow squid farm has to be.
Glow Squid version history
The glow squid was added in Minecraft 1.17, which came out on 8 June 2021, so the glow squid has been in the game for 5 years.
2 other mobs here came with it: the axolotl and the goat. That puts the glow squid behind 68 of the 88 mobs here and ahead of 17.
The glow squid numbers here come from Java 26.2, the version running now, and not from the one that introduced it.
What Glow Squid sounds like
Turn subtitles on and every glow squid sound names itself in the corner of the screen. These are the 4 lines a glow squid can put there, and you can play any of them yourself with /playsound minecraft:entity.glow_squid.ambient master @p.
| Sound | What you hear |
|---|---|
| entity.glow_squid.ambient |  Glow Squid swims |
| entity.glow_squid.hurt | Glow Squid hurts |
| entity.glow_squid.death | Glow Squid dies |
| entity.glow_squid.squirt | Glow Squid shoots ink |
