It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the Indo-Pacific region, from India to Southeast Asia and Northern Australia.

[3] The giant freshwater prawn has also been introduced to parts of Africa, Thailand, China, Japan, New Zealand, the Americas, and the Caribbean.

[3] While M. rosenbergii is considered a freshwater species, the larval stage of the animal depends on estuarine brackish water.

[5] Once the individual shrimp has grown beyond the planktonic stage and becomes a juvenile, it migrates from the estuary and lives entirely in fresh water.

Locally, it is known as golda chingri (Bengali: গলদা চিংড়ি) in Bangladesh and India, udang galah in Indonesia and Malaysia, uwáng or uláng in the Philippines, Thailand prawn in Southern China and Taiwan (Chinese: Tàiguó xiā 泰國蝦),[6] and koong mae nam (กุ้งแม่น้ำ) or koong ghram gram (กุ้งก้ามกราม) in Thailand.

The first pair of walking legs (pereiopods) is elongated and very thin, ending in delicate claws (chelipeds), which are used as feeding appendages.

The movable claws of the second pair of walking legs are distinctively covered in dense bristles (setae) that give them a velvety appearance.