Trebius Niger Explained

Trebius Niger was an ancient Roman author and statesman of the second century B.C. He was a companion of a certain Lucullus and in 150 B.C. was the proconsul for Hispania Baetica.^[1] He wrote a large work on natural history which was used by Pliny the Elder.

As a fish

Pliny credited Trebius for his work on ichthyology. However, this acknowledgment was misinterpreted by Thomas of Cantimpré when he wrote his Opus de natura rerum, using Pliny as a source. As such, Thomas records a nonexistent fish called the "black trebius" (trebius niger in Latin). He is followed in this error by St. Albert the Great in his monumental treatise De Animalibus.^[2]

Notes and References

http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2310.html . https://web.archive.org/web/20150407162437/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/2310.html . 2015-04-07 . NIGER, TRE'BIUS . 2 . 1202 . 1870 . W. Smith . Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology . 9 April 2015 . The Ancient Library.
Beullens, Pieter. Like a Book Written by God's Finger: Animals Showing the Path toward God, in A Cultural History of Animals in the Medieval Age, ed. Brigitte Resl, 2009.