[3] Furthermore, a didactic poem on bird catching, Ixeutica (Ἰξευτικά, Ixeutiká), which now only survives in a prose paraphrase, was also attributed to Oppian in the manuscript tradition.
The Ixeutica is now thought to describe a work composed by the Dionysus whom the Suda mention as the author of a treatise on rocks (Λιθιακά, Lithiaká).
A likely explanation for the attribution of all these works to Oppian is that the three didactic poems on hunting, fishing, and fowling were at some point circulated as a complementary trio.
[4] According to the anonymous biographies attached to the Byzantine manuscripts of the Halieutica, Oppian's father, having incurred the displeasure of a colleague of Marcus Aurelius named Lucius Verus by neglecting to pay his respects to him when he visited Rome, was banished to Malta.
The fish in the Halieutica are depicted in an anthropomorphic fashion, as their behaviour is generally motivated by emotions such as hate, love, greed, jealousy and friendship.