Pliny the elder included this little piece of trivia in his book natural history written more than 2000 years ago and from there the word sarcophagus popped into english in a 1601 translation of the classic work .
Aristotle and pliny the elder both described such monsters ; legends such as the lusca ( caribbean ) , scylla ( ancient greece ) , and the sea monk ( medieval europe ) all describe a bizarre , often dangerous nautical creature .
In the first century ad pliny the elder , a roman statesman , naturalist and writer , documented the glowing creatures near his home in the bay of naples , including glowing jellyfish and a species of glowing clam that was considered a delicacy in his day .
