If you decide to travel to Spain or Portugal and love rare and exotic dishes, be sure to try Lucifer's Fingers.
This frightening name hides marine crustaceans of an even more frightening species. They really resemble black severed fingers with a sharp and hard "nail".
In Spain and Portugal, this dish is also called "Percebes" and it is a very rare and dangerous delicacy to extract. Because of their rarity (and high cost), they are sometimes even called "sea truffles".
Scientifically, "fingers of Lucifer" are called sea ducks, the Latin name is Pollicipes pollicipes. They feed on plankton and often settle on the bottoms of ships, impairing their navigability.
"Fingers of Lucifer" live in the coastal area, where strong waves and currents. The gatherers of these crustaceans have to literally risk their lives for an expensive delicacy. Many divers threw strong waves on the rocks and people drowned, and the lucky ones were happy to get off with broken bones and deep scratches.
“Never turn your back on God when diving for Fingers of Lucifer,” says seasoned collector Joa Rosario. “When you dive behind Percebes and forget for a moment about the unpredictability of the ocean, you will most likely be severely injured or killed. We've already had a lot of divers killed here, and even more injured hands or feet or received dangerous wounds due to sharp rocks that easily cut wetsuits."
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Most often, the hunters for "Fingers of Lucifer" try to collect them at low tide or falling from a high cliff, tied with a rope.
In Portugal, licenses for the collection of these crustaceans are issued to only 80 divers per year and each day has the right to collect no more than 15 kg. But for every kilogram of Lucifer Fingers, a diver can receive from 30 to 60 euros. Because of this, poaching is widespread here. And in restaurants this dish will cost you 100 euros and more.
How to eat this dish correctly? First of all, take it by the "claw", and then break the "finger" and get to the juicy meat inside. The dish is eaten boiled after a minute of boiling and it is recommended to enjoy its taste without adding spices or sauces.
There is also a commercial fishery for Lucifer Fingers in Vancouver, Canada, but the scale is small compared to Spain and Portugal.
