The scientific name for fish bones is intermuscular ossicles, which are small bones found between the muscle septa on either side of the fish's vertebral column, primarily growing within the bodies of lower vertebrates. Paleontologists have discovered that as fish have evolved over time, the intermuscular ossicles have undergone a process of increasing, then decreasing, and eventually disappearing. The number of fish bones can, to some extent, reflect the evolutionary history of fish.