 In an effort to decrease diving pressure on natural reefs, artificial reefs were constructed with D. hemprichi, sea urchins, and another coral species – Stylophora pistillata – to determine their ability to attract divers as well as to support the local fauna.Unlike its usual niche on vertical protrusions or on the top side of horizontal substrata, D. hemprichi has attached to the bottom surface of the horizontal plates that form the scaffold of the artificial reef.This is due to S. pistillata outcompeting D. hemprichi for the upper surface of the horizontal substrata since the zooxanthellate of S. pistillata require light for photosynthesis whereas azooxanthellate D. hemprichi can exist without it.