It is native to shallow water in the tropical western Atlantic Ocean where it creates a home for itself from fragments of the algae on which it feeds.

Two oval pieces of seaweed are bent in half longitudinally and stuck together along the long edges with a secreted glue, leaving slits open at each end.

The "domicile" is carried in a vertical position and the amphipod can clamber around among the hydroids and seaweed around it, and can swim while still enclosed in the casing, using strokes made by the plumose antennae.

[8][9] Researchers found that the amphipods selected D. bartayresiana to build their domicile even where it was rare, but would not use the seaweed Ulva unless there was no alternative.

[10] Young amphipods develop in a brood pouch and the juveniles remain inside their mother's domicile for a period of time, protected from predators and provided with easy access to their food supply.