Growth type: Growth in males suffers a discontinuity around the time of sexual maturity.
von Bertallanfy growth parameters: Males CL∞=47.2 mm, K=0.564 per year, t0=−0.13 years;
Females CL∞=64.086 mm, K=0.460 per year, t0=−0.192 years .
Reproduction: In Portugal, as well as in the Mediterranean, it seems to breed in the spring and summer.
Maturity: Males 28–35 mm carapace length; females 28-62 mm CL.
Behavioural ecology: Moves to midwater at night.
Population structure & migrations: At least three genetically distinct populations appear to exist worldwide: one in the Mediterranean and two in the Indo-Pacific.
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: SeaLifeBase 61 - 1300 m, usually 250 - 750 m.
Habitat: Benthopelagic, over sandy and muddy bottoms. Tends to form patchy aggregations in particular places.
Feeding habits: Feeds on a wide variety of prey, mostly mesopelagic crustaceans and fish; also cephalopods.
Trophic level:
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Important commercial species in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Not common enough in Madeira to allow exploitation. Occasional catches, low economic potential.
Bello G., Pipitone C. (2002). Predation on cephalopods by the giant red shrimp Aristaeomorpha foliacea. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK, 82: 213-218.
Fernández M.V., Heras S., Maltagliati F., Roldán M.I. (2013). Deep genetic divergence in giant red shrimp Aristaeomorpha foliacea (Risso, 1827)
across a wide distributional range . Journal of Sea Research, 76: 146-153.
Figueiredo M.J., Figueiredo I., Machado P.B. (2001). Deep-water penaeid shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda) from off the Portuguese continental slope: an alternative future resource? Fisheries Research, 51(2): 321-326.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Papaconstantinou C., Kapiris K. (2003). The biology of the giant red shrimp (Aristaeomorpha foliacea) at an unexploited fishing ground in the Greek Ionian Sea . Fisheries Research, 62: 37-51.
Ragonese S., Vitale S., Dimech M., De Santi A. (2012). Growth discontinuity in males of the deep-water giant red shrimp Aristaeomorpha foliacea in the Mediterranean Sea . Marine Ecology, 33:386-392.
