A new scorpionfish species is described from Fiji and Enewetak in the Marshall Islands, where it was collected from high-energy habitats. It is most similar to Scorpaenodes parvipinnis, with which it coexists, but differs in having four suborbital spines instead of five or more, by lacking a spine on the lachrymal ridge, and in coloration. It differs from S. parvipinnis and all other species of Scorpaenodes by having the second spine on the suborbital ridge extending dorsally above the lower orbit margin.