This species has demonstrated great variability in its environmental biology in response to environmental conditions, including adaptations by L. gibbosus under conditions of artificially elevated water temperatures (rapid growth, precocious maturation and shortened life span; Dembski et al., 2006) as well as in naturally warmer waters (i.e. considerably greater biomass allocation to reproduction than a native population in Ontario, Canada; Fox & Crivelli, 1998, 2001).