Which constellation is named after a flying fish?

The constellation named after a flying fish is Volans.

Volans represents a tropical flying fish, a fish that can leap from the water and glide through the air using enlarged fins. Its name is a shortened form of the Latin Piscis Volans, meaning “flying fish.”

Volans was introduced in the late 16th century by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Petrus Plancius first displayed it on a celestial globe in 1598, and Johann Bayer included it in his 1603 star atlas Uranometria as Piscis Volans. Astronomer John Herschel later shortened the name to Volans, a form that became standard.

The constellation lies in the southern sky and covers about 141 square degrees, making it the 76th-largest of the 88 modern constellations. It borders Dorado, which represents a dolphinfish, so the two can be confused when studying old star maps. Volans contains no Messier objects and has no star brighter than magnitude 3, but its unusual name preserves the era of maritime exploration that inspired several southern constellations.