>perl -wMstrict -le
"use Data::Dumper;
 my @bigarray = (
     [ '123*jeff', 'tortoise', 'qwe*rty', ],
     [ '456*john', 'parrot',   'aze*rty', ],
     [ '789*jane', 'budgie',   'abc*def', ],
     );
 @bigarray =
     map [ map split(/\*/), @$_ ],
     @bigarray
     ;
 print Dumper \@bigarray;
"
$VAR1 = [
          [
            '123',
            'jeff',
            'tortoise',
            'qwe',
            'rty'
          ],
          [
            '456',
            'john',
            'parrot',
            'aze',
            'rty'
          ],
          [
            '789',
            'jane',
            'budgie',
            'abc',
            'def'
          ]
        ];

>perl -wMstrict -le
"use Data::Dumper;
 my @bigarray = (
     [ '123*jeff', 'tortoise', 'qwe*rty', ],
     [ '456*john', 'parrot',   'aze*rty', ],
     [ '789*jane', 'budgie',   'abc*def', ],
     );
 @bigarray =
     map [ split(/\*/, $_->[0]), @$_[ 1 .. $#$_ ] ],
     @bigarray
     ;
 print Dumper \@bigarray;
"
$VAR1 = [
          [
            '123',
            'jeff',
            'tortoise',
            'qwe*rty'
          ],
          [
            '456',
            'john',
            'parrot',
            'aze*rty'
          ],
          [
            '789',
            'jane',
            'budgie',
            'abc*def'
          ]
        ];