Rudolph J. Miller (1934–2017): Oklahoma Ichthyologist, Teacher and Mentor, and Naturalist Painter

Rudy Miller in 1971 examining specimens of Eupomacentrus jenkinsi (now Stegastes marginatus), a species of small damselfish. Rudy made behavioral observations on this species while snorkeling and by installing underwater video cameras during his sabbatical at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island when he worked with Ernie Reese whom he knew since he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Netherlands.

Rudy and Helen Miller in Estes Park, Colorado, one of their favorite places to photograph wildlife and scenic landscapes that Rudy later painted.

Three of Rudy's paintings of fishes that were used in his book Fishes of Oklahoma that show the reproductive male stages of the lowland habitat, Bluehead Shiner, Pteronotropis hubbsi (top), the central highlands habitat, Ozark Minnow, Notropis nubilus (middle), and the more widely distributed rocky riffle species the Rainbow Darter, Etheostoma caeruleum (bottom). The Bluehead Shiner males change both coloration and body form for reproduction, and this species was described by HWR and Reeve Bailey and named after Carl L. Hubbs.