Acipenser toliapicus was an early Eocene sturgeon, part of a lineage that still survives today in large rivers and coastal seas. Like living sturgeons it would have combined a largely cartilaginous internal skeleton with heavy dermal armour and fin supports. The London Clay record is therefore dominated by durable external elements such as ornamented scutes and fin-ray fragments rather than complete skeletons.

Its ecology is best inferred from living acipenserids. A bottom-oriented feeding habit, using a protrusible mouth to take small invertebrates and other food from or just above soft sediment, is plausible, but cannot be demonstrated directly from the isolated London Clay remains. The occurrence of a sturgeon in this marine formation is consistent with the ability of many modern sturgeons to move between coastal waters and rivers.