Somewhere on the seabed, far, far away,
From the depths, an orchestra began to play,
The audience gathered prepared to see,
The Ocean’s Got Talent grand jubilee
Marine creatures; all fins and gills,
Shoaled to showcase their special skills
The winner would be given pearly beads,
The infamous jewels of the seven seas
Sea god Neptune was to attend,
To present the precious prize at the end.

The judges sat waiting, with bated breath,
Ready to scrutinize the best of the best
Simon Coral with his intimidating gaze,
Keen to deliver some sarcastic praise.

The seaweed curtain rolled slowly aside,
To reveal the first of the acts that night.

On came the crabs with their noisy display,
Side walking and snapping as the music played
Next came the narwhals, their tusks on fleek,
Truly the unicorns of the sea
The neon fish created a real stir,
With their stunning colours,
Their movement a blur
The electric eels put on quite a show,
Their static shocks felt in every row
Jellyfish floated majestically by,
Backlit to reveal their tangled insides
The big mouth bass was the loudest yet,
Even more so than the crayfish quartet

Backstage the male oysters sat open-mouthed
Gazing at the line-up, trembling at the crowd
How could they ever compete with these acts?
Their talents were few, their movement was slack

Next up the starfish, a dazzling display,
An acrobatic tower, five points each way
A stone fish delivered a deadpan routine,
The audience loved his humorous scene
The swordfish skilfully sliced some kelp,
As an octopus juggled a thousand whelks
Anemones exploded, bursting their heads,
The stage awash with volcanic reds.
The penultimate act, and greatly awaited
The male seahorses and their babies
As they danced with their young so tenderly
The audience cooed encouragingly.

Deflated, the oysters took to the stage,
Their line up already felt rather staid
As they started to open and close their shells,
(A lip sync in time to the Tubular Bells)
Simon Coral began to stifle a yawn
‘Rather a dull act if I may say,
And Tubular Bells is SO yesterday’
Then suddenly, a random thermal came by,
The blast of warm water -a pleasant surprise

The oysters still miming stood shell to shell,
Water gushing through them, weaving a spell
For the male oysters had suddenly changed and
In their place, female oysters now lined the stage!

Right before the eyes of the crowd
A male to female switch-around!
The audience squirmed and wriggled in delight
The younger members cheered at such a sight.

The house erupted, a swimming ovation,
These transgender oysters, a marvellous creation!
As Simon Coral’s face cracked a small smile,
All the other judges were totally wild
‘It seems to me the winners are plain to see,
These gender fluid oysters deserve to be
Bestowed the highest order of the sea’.

Neptune came to the stage, and nodded his head
‘What a marvellous show, it has to be said
Such entertainment here on our seabed!
And well done to the oysters- who would have known?
Such modest creatures provide such a good show
A sudden change in temperature in our ocean,
And you transform in one fluid motion
Whilst you may not be the only sea creature to change gender,
We must award this prize to those who entered
So, it gives me the greatest pleasure to say
The oysters will be given my jewels today’.

As the oysters each received their pearl,
A touch of magic filled the world
Now if you look carefully beneath the sea,
The oysters hold pearls from their victory.