In the annals of fish stories, this may be the saddest one of all.
It’s the tale of Balder, a blind cod who had the misfortune of swimming into a net in Norway.
The fisherman, Harald Hauso, took pity on the sightless creature and tossed him back into the water.
He thought he’d seen the last of the feckless fish.
He was wrong.
Over the years, Balder – perhaps not the sharpest cod in his school – swam back to Hauso’s net at least 39 more times.
After each entanglement, the fisherman tossed back his catch, judging him too scrawny to eat.
Finally, in February, Balder was shipped off to the Atlantic Sea Park, where aquarium workers tried to fatten him up with a deluxe diet of herring and shrimp.
“He was swimming and eating and taking food from my fingers and looked quite well,” aquarium director Jan Einarsen said.
But looks can be deceiving – and last Wednesday the celebrity cod rolled over and died.
The fisherman believes his old friend was killed by kindness.
“Maybe it was too much food for him,” Hauso said. “He wasn’t used to such a life of luxury.”