During November 2006, 50 sponge explants (4 cm×6 m×8 cm) were cut from 50 R. odorabile (1 explant per individual) at Rib Reef. All sponge explants were placed into two plastic moulded recovery cages (Aqua-Tech) anchored to the sea floor at 9 m (the same depth that the sponges were collected from) and left for at least nine months to ensure that all cut surfaces had healed ( Louden et al., 2007).