The dreaded Dead Man's Fingers strike again!

Dead Man's Fingers!  Those sound like something from our worst nightmare!  Dead Man's Fingers..ahh..yes!  Those creepy, grey and shriveled digits that come crawling after us as we, for some reason, have become paralyzed with fear and cannot run!  Those fingers that are no longer attached to any hand or body but still have a life of their own and those same ones that have ill intent in our dreams.  Zombie fingers! No?  Well, perhaps these are just some prop from an old Abbott and Costello movie.  Some Egyptian mummy's fingers are chasing Bud and Lou around a haunted museum! Bud and Lou must defeat the fingers before solving the mystery of the missing jewels of some pharaoh!  Dead Man's Fingers!  I do believe many a story could be written with that as a title!

Dead Man's Fingers or gills of a crab can be clearly seen once the carapace or shell is removed.

Actually, the Dead Man's Fingers were found in my kitchen this morning and I do not live in some haunted museum!  Nor did these fingers chase me or scare me in the least!  Dead Man's Fingers are organs found in Blue Crabs.  To be a bit more precise, these "fingers" are the gills of the crab.  They are elongated, spongy-looking organs that enable the crab to filter air from the water.  Their name comes from the shape and appearance.   Being slightly grey, shriveled and long, they actually do resemble the fingers of a dead human...if you have a great imagination!  As a matter of coincidence, there are five on each side of the crab!  The Dead Man's Fingers are located right below the carapace or hard upper shell of the crab.  Once that is removed, these gills are the most prominent feature of the body of the crab. They sit there in all their glory just waiting to scare the bejeebies out of some poor soul!  Not really..most folks who eat crabs are fully aware of what they will see once that shell is removed!  Although, some folks do believe that these organs are poisonous and will kill you if you eat them.  This is erroneous and probably just derived from the said appearance of the gills.  Although, I have not tasted them (they look yucky to me!), others have and say they taste as yucky as they look!   Perhaps that to has lent some bearing on the myth that they are toxic.  These are part of the crab that one discards when picking or eating!

Blue Crabs with their..ummm..blue and green hues.

Just to throw another interesting fact about crabs at you..since I have been bombarding you with excessive crab lore..Blue Crabs do turn red when cooked!  Most know this but some do not realize why!  It has to do with pigments in the crabs shells.  The red pigment is wrapped in proteins which give it the dark coloring.  When heated the protein "unravels" ( for lack of a better term) and the red color that is underneath becomes visible.  Heat destroys the darker bluish or greenish pigments leaving behind the bright red!  Although this change is definitely related to heat, it is not a test for "doneness"!  Crabs and all seafood should be thoroughly cooked!  That brings me to another point!  Most folks do overcook their seafood!  With Blue Crabs "doneness" has nothing to do with safety!  That safety all comes with cooking live crabs!  Never use dead crabs as bacteria forms rather quickly on seafood and I am sorry to tell you, that is what makes people sick!  Live Blue Crabs can be plopped in boiling water, the water returned to a full rolling boil and cooked within six to ten minutes depending on the size of the crab!  Each of those shells sort of turns into a mini pressure cooker and will fully cook an average size crab in just minutes.  The importance of having that crab live and the water in a full boil cannot be stressed enough but time wise ten minutes is usually enough!

The same Blue Crabs boiled and showing their "redness"!

Ok..so now I have ventured far from the original theme of this post!  To summarize..Dead Man's Fingers are not movie props or zombies..are not poisonous..and taste lousy! Dead Man's Fingers are not fingers at all but are gills. Crabs change colors due to heat demolishing certain proteins.  Never use a dead crab..it will make you ill.  Always keep the water boiling but never overcook your crab!  Also, never miss a chance to view an Abbott and Costello movie..that is pure entertainment!