Aristaeomorpha foliacea is a large decapod crustacean, a shrimp or prawn which has a firm and, flexible and light red exoskeleton and black eyes.

It has long pleopods, antennal, hepatic and branchiostegal spines on its carapace, a very short upper antennal flagella, strong spines to the rear of the midpoint on the third to sixth abdominal segments, a telson with four small mobile lateral spines, the females have an open telicum and the species shows secondary sexual dimorphism in body size and the length of the rostrum with the adult females being larger and having a longer rostrum, extending well beyond the antennal scale.

[4] The distribution of this species in the Mediterranean is rather patchy and the largest concentrations are in the central and eastern basins.

[2] The giant red shrimp is a deep-water benthopelagic species and has a reported depth distribution of 120–1300 m, generally on muddy bottoms,[2] in the Mediterranean it shows a preference for quite deep waters, mainly 500-800m, but it is more likely than related species to be found in shallower waters.

It is likely that this species undertakes diel migrations which are related to its feeding behaviour, during the day its prey consists of benthos while during the night it prets on animals higher in the water column.

Recorded prey include crustaceans, bony fish, cephalopods siphonophores, gastropods, bivalves, polychaetes and foraminiferans.

Also in the Straits of Sicily cephalopods are relatively more important in its diet when compared to giant red shrimp from other areas, making A. foliacea a significant contributor to the juvenile mortality of species such as Heteroteuthis dispar in the food webs of the central Mediterranean.