I feed it to my dats, gars, bichirs, arowana and puffer. They all love it, although, it took them a little while to realize that it was food. Just make sure that you rinse it well.
Never paid attention to the distinction. The bait shop will charge you six bucks for a pint of squid strips, but the seafood markets sell whole squid for 2 bucks a pound. I go with the market squid for fishing.