Over the past decade, many of the major estuaries along the Atlantic coast of the United States have been adversely affected by an increase in harmful algal blooms. The devastating effects of these blooms on shellfish and eelgrass beds and have led to a marked decrease in suitable habitat for juvenile fish development. This study examines the effectiveness of a small near-shore artificial reef in attracting and protecting juvenile demersal fish that are unable to find suitable estuarine habitat, or become displaced following estuarine algal blooms. Three demersal species are specifically targeted: cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus), black sea bass (Centropristis striata), and tautog (Tautoga onitis ). Results of statistical analyses show that the artificial reef attracts and supports significantly more juvenile cunner (p<0.001) and black sea bass (p<0.001) than naturally occurring structures of similar size. Tautog did not provide sufficient data for analysis of aggregation patterns. The artificial reef is also found to provide better protection for juvenile cunner and black sea bass than similarly sized natural structures. This conclusion is supported by stability analysis and graphical interpretation of the data. The success of this novel artificial reef design warrants further study, on a larger scale, to assess the aggregative, protective, and ecological effects of clustering several reefs in close proximity to each other, as would be typical in a designated artificial reef site.