Tribbles are a fictional alien species in the Star Trek universe. They were conceived by screenwriter David Gerrold, and first appeared in a 1967 episode titled "The Trouble with Tribbles". They are depicted as a small, furry, gentle, attractive, and slow-moving but rapidly reproducing lovable species. Though they appear infrequently on-screen, they have become a popular feature of the Star Trek universe, featuring in their own eponymous official card game, and even lending their name to a conserved family of proteins that was first identified in the fruit fly as a regulator of cell division.
