Rhinopias eschmeyeri was first formally described in 1977 by the French speleologist and zoologist Bruno Condé [fr] with the type locality given as Mahébourg on Mauritius.

[6] The specific name honours the American ichthyologist William N. Eschmeyer who revised the genus Rhinopias in 1973.

and having head, body, fins, and tentacles usually without distinct pigmentation or markings (vs. with elongate black-margined white markings each with a central region of yellow, green, or brown in R. aphanes and with numerous distinct circular dark-margined spots in R.

[4] R. eschmeyeri was thought to be endemic to Mauritius, but populations were found in the tropical western Indo-Pacific.

Its range extends from the coasts of East Africa to Japan, Indonesia and the northern half of Australia.