Tribble

Tribble

Polygeminus grex
Captain Kirk in a pile of tribbles
Home world	Iota Geminorum IV
Affiliation	None

Tribbles are a fictional alien species in the Star Trek universe that first appeared in the episode titled "The Trouble with Tribbles". They are depicted as small, furry, soft, gentle, attractive, and slow-moving, and they usually produce a soothing purring or cooing sound when stroked, all of which are endearing traits to humans, Vulcans, and their hybrids. However, because tribbles reproduce incredibly fast, and consume exponentially larger and larger amounts of food as they multiply and crawl stealthily from one place to another, Starfleet considers them dangerous organisms and forbids their transportation. The Klingons, in whose presence tribbles produce a convulsive, shrieking reaction, go as far as to consider them "mortal enemies", as stated in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".

While appearing in only four episodes and briefly in four of the Star Trek movies, they are one of the most popular and well-known species featured in the Star Trek universe, fairly well known even to casual followers of the series. In 2006, two tribble props from "Trials and Tribble-ations" were auctioned for US $900 to $1,300.

Because of their popularity, the core episodes featuring tribbles ("The Trouble with Tribbles", "Trials and Tribble-ations", and the animated "More Tribbles, More Troubles") were collected on a single laserdisc, "Triple Tribble Troubles". This was the only Star Trek laserdisc to contain episodes from multiple series. The Blu-ray boxed set of Season 2 of the show used the same selection of episodes on disk 4, with the latter 2 episodes appearing as bonus features.

The expression "multiplying like tribbles" has also become commonplace in the context of science fiction or technology.

A family of proteins which have a variety of roles, including involvement in the control of the cell cycle in the fruit fly, was named after these fictional animals.