Disclosed is a water-soluble near infrared fluorescent material that emits a near infrared light, can be used in an in vivo imaging method and has a high quantum yield. Also disclosed is a multimodal water-soluble near infrared fluorescent material having a high quantum yield that can be used in a multimodal in vivo imaging method using light (fluorescent) imaging, MRI, SPECT and the like. The water-soluble near infrared fluorescent material comprises a semiconductor quantum dot having an emission band in a near infrared region and a covering layer covering the surface of the semiconductor quantum dot. The covering layer is a layer comprising covered peptides selected from the group consisting of cysteines, and peptides that comprise 2 to 8 amino acid residues and contain one or more cysteine residues in the amino acid residue.
