The Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis, is a North American member of the Mustelidae or weasel family. It is also known as the North American River Otter. It is a common animal in North American waterways. However, its numbers have significantly dropped since Europeans came to the Americas.^[1]

The Northern River Otter is a species of otter, or the family lutrinae. It is a member of the genus lontra, which is comprised of North American otters. It was previously included, with the other members of lontra, included in the genus lutra, but was placed in a newly-created genus when it was determined that the North American otters are more closely related to the genera Lutrogale and Pteronura than to the other species in Lutra.