A quinoline-thiooxorhodamine conjugate fluorescent sensor (1) has been synthesized. Sensor 1 exhibits high selectivity and sensitivity to $Hg^{2+}$ in $H_2O$/DMSO (95/5, v/v, HEPES 20 mM, pH = 7.4) solution with fluorescence detection. Other tested metal ions do not induce any significant fluorescence intensity changes. Sensor 1 interacts with $Hg^{2+}$ through a 1:1 binding stoichiometry with a good anti-inference ability. In addition, fluorescent imaging of $Hg^{2+}$ in Hela cells is also successfully demonstrated.