A new species of scorpionfish, Neomerinthe bauchotae, is described from 14 specimens taken during a cruise of the R.V. Marion-Dufresne in the southern Indian Ocean in 1986, from beam trawls and drags at Amsterdam and Saint Paul islands at depths between 50-75 and 460-510 m. It can be distinguished from the 11 other species of Neomerinthe by the combination of a relatively low pectoral fin-ray count (usually 16, sometimes 17), dorsal soft rays numbering 10 ½, the membranes of the pectoral fin being deeply incised between the middle and lower fin rays, the lack of a slit behind the last gill arch, the lack of a swimbladder, and in having a second preopercular spine. Comparison with other species of Neomerinthe and those of related genera suggests that the definition of the genus requires re-evaluation. Neomerinthe bauchotae is, after Helicolenus dactylopterus, the second scorpaenid reported from the islands of Saint Paul and Amsterdam.