dead men's fingers

English

Noun

dead men's fingers pl (plural only)

1. (informal) The gills of edible crabs.

   Synonyms: devil's fingers, dead men

   • 1998 July 11, Philippa Davenport, “Who wants lobster when there’s crab around?”, in Financial Times, London, page 12:

     Holding down the hard back shell with your fingers, use your thumbs to lever the body up and out of the carapace. Then pull out and discard the feathery gills or dead men’s fingers, the small mouth part and the stomach bag that lies behind it.

   • 2003, Michael Gartland, “Drought Forces Awendaw, S.C., Crab Festival to Import from Louisiana”, in Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Washington, page 1:

     As old folks tell it, he says, the nickname [‘dead men’] comes from stories of crabs eating the bodies of sailors lost in shipwrecks. In other crab-enthusiastic locales, such as Maryland, the term takes on a different form and meaning. In the Chesapeake Bay area, some call the gills “dead men's fingers” for their withered, pale appearance.

   • 2004 May 1, Steve Manfredi, “Mud crab”, in Sydney Morning Herald, page 7:

     Take a cooked 1kg mud crab and lift off the shell from the body. Take out the grey, feather-like gills – often called “dead men’s fingers”.