Benson (1984 – 4 August 2009) was "Britain's biggest and best-loved"

common carp The common carp (''Cyprinus carpio''), also known as European carp, Eurasian carp, or simply carp, is a widespread freshwater fish of eutrophic waters in lakes and large rivers in Europe and Asia.Fishbase''Cyprinus carpio'' Linnaeus, 1758/ref>Ark ...

. Benson's popularity was such that she was caught 63 times in 13 years, although the accessibility that made her popular was also the cause of controversy among

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

's elite. She has also been referred to as "the people's fish" and was voted by readers of ''

Angler's Mail ''Angler's Mail'' was a weekly angling magazine published in London, UK, by Future plc. The magazine covers aspects of modern coarse fishing, and is on sale every Tuesday priced £2.20. Its latest audited average weekly sales were 30,606 for the ...

'' as Britain's Favourite Carp in 2005. The fish, who was female, was originally one of a pair: her original companion, Hedges, disappeared in a flood of the

River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

in 1998. Both fish were named due to a hole in Benson's

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

that resembled a cigarette burn, in a reference to

Benson & Hedges Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by American conglomerate Altria. Cigarettes under the ''Benson & Hedges'' name are manufactured worldwide by different companies such as Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris USA, British ...

. At her peak weight, in 2006, she weighed . Benson died on 4 August 2009, aged 25. At the time of her death, she weighed the same as a large dog and was worth £20,000. The owner of the lake where she lived alleged that she was accidentally poisoned by anglers using uncooked

tigernut ''Cyperus esculentus'' (also called chufa, tiger nut, atadwe, yellow nutsedge, earth almond, and in Chishona, pfende) is a species of plant in the sedge family widespread across much of the world. It is found in most of the Eastern Hemisphere, i ...

s as bait, though evidence points to the contrary (see section on death below). Another possible cause of death was the complications during egg production.

Fame

Benson lived in the Kingfisher Lake at the Bluebell Lakes complex, at Tansor just outside

Oundle Oundle () is a market town and civil parish on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 6,254 at the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is north of London and south-wes ...

in Northamptonshire. She was one of approximately 150 carp in Bluebell Lakes, which are managed "to provide the best environment for growth potential of the fish". Steve Broad, editor of ''UK Carp'' magazine, ascribed Benson's fame to "her accessibility": However, this very accessibility made the fish controversial among the sport's elite: "Everyday anglers loved her because there was a chance they could have their photo taken with one of the big fish ... some serious anglers did not like her because she was open to everyone." Benson's record of being caught so often masks her unpredictability. "There was a period when Benson was caught every Monday for six weeks. Then it seemed that she disappeared for the next 12 months"

Death

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' reported in August 2009 that the fish had been "poisoned": It has since been confirmed that the most likely cause of death was not nut poisoning, but rather reproductive complications due to

gravidity In biology and medicine, gravidity and parity are the number of times a female has been pregnant (gravidity) and carried the pregnancies to a viable gestational age (parity). These two terms are usually coupled, sometimes with additional terms, t ...

. Benson's successor as a popular and very large common carp may not live too far away from the fish's former haunt. "The same complex where Benson lived boasts a lot of promising 40 lb fish. There's one—the Z-Fish—that is ounces under 50 lb and still growing."

References

{{reflist 1984 animal births 2009 animal deaths Individual fish Individual animals in the United Kingdom Individual wild animals Carp