The starry rockfish was first formally described as Sebastichthys constellatus in 1880 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert with the type locality given as the coast of California.

[3] The specific name constellatus means "studded with stars” an allusion to the many star-shaped spots on the head and body.

[4] The starry rockfish has a robust, rhombus-shaped body which has a depth of just under a third of its standard length.

[1] Starry rockfish are orange-red in color on the body and fins, darker on their backs with 5 or 6 large white blotches on its upper flanks and there are numerous small white spots over the upper body too.

[5] The starry rockfish is found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean off the west coast of North America.