Sebastapistes was first described as a genus in 1877 by the American ichthyologist Theodore Gill, Gill included 3 species within the new genus and in 1898 David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann designated Scorpaena strongia which had been described by Georges Cuvier in 1829 with its type locality given as Kosrae in the Caroline Islands, as the type species.

[3] The etymology of the genus name Sebastapistes was not explained by Gill, it may be that Sebast- is derived from Sebastichthys (a subgenus of Sebastes), which was previously a genus S. cyanostigma was classified in, or a reference to sebastin fishes in general; apistes is apistus which means "untrustworthy" or "perfidious", as these fishes are not a true rockfishes but are "intermediate between the Sebastoid and Scorpaenoid genera".

[4] The 11 recognized species in this genus are:[5] Some authorities consider that S. nuchalis is a junior synonym of S. strongia and that Scorpaena pascuensis should be included within Sebastapistes.

The pored scales in the lateral line continue on to the caudal peduncle and they do not have a deep occipital pit.

[5] Sebastapistes scorpionfishes are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from East Africa to Hawaii and Easter Island.