devil's fingers

devil's fingers pl (normally plural, singular devil's finger)

1. (archaic or rare) [19th century] A starfish, especially Asterias rubens.

   Synonym: sea star

   • 1876, George L. Austin, “Poetical Zoölogy”, in Appleton’s Journal, page 144:

   • 1902, F. Martin Duncan, “The Artful Starfish”, in The Royal Magazine, volume 10, page 327:

2. (informal, US) The gills of various species of crabs.

   Synonyms: dead men's fingers, dead men

   • 1992 June 21, Rob Kasper, “To cut, or not to cut, the mustard”, in The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, page 1G:

   • 2001 June 6, Patricia Talorico, “Just forget that it’s a whole crab; take a bite and enjoy that flavor”, in The News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, page D1:

   • 2007 August 3, John Geiser, “Take rusties over jimmies when hunting for good-eatin’ crabs”, in Asbury Park Press, Asbury Park, New Jersey:

     Once the shell is off, the crab’s gills or lungs, variously called “devil’s fingers” or “dead men” are exposed. These are gray-white, feathery-looking parts that are inedible and must be scraped off and thrown away.

3. A fungus, Clathrus archeri, featuring pink or white 'arms' erupting from a white ball-like body, with a putrid odor.

   Synonym: octopus stinkhorn

   • 2006 October 21, Peter Marren, “Day of the fungi”, in The Daily Telegraph, page 15:

   • 2014 December 20, “Two rare fungi found on Devon wildlife sites”, in The Western Morning News, Plymouth, England, page 4:

   • 2021 September 17, Faith Pring, “Weird fungus known as ‘devil’s fingers’ found in city”, in Derby Evening Telegraph, page 20:

4. plural of devil's finger (“cephalopod of the order Belemnitida”)

   Synonyms: belemnite, fingerstone

• Common starfish on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Clathrus archeri on Wikipedia.Wikipedia