Original description as Algoma amara:
- Girard, Charles Frederic. 1856. "Researches upon the cyprinoid fishes inhabiting the fresh waters of the United States, west of the Mississippi Valley, from specimens in the museum of the Smithsonian Institution". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 8:165-213 (ffm04542)
Synonyms (1):
- Algoma fluviatilis Girard, 1856, with type locality at Near Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Determiner: Gilbert, 1998
Conservation: Hybognathus amarus is evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species as (EN) endangered (1996).