Original description as Atractosteus tropicus:
- Gill, Theodore Nicholas. 1863. "Descriptive enumeration of a collection of fishes from the western coast of Central America, presented to the Smithsonian Institution by Captain John M. Dow". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 15:162-174 (ffm00290)
Conservation: Atractosteus tropicus is not evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species.