A Summer Update for Animal Crossing: New Horizons came out and with it comes a brand new world of ocean sea creatures.
Your character can now swim (read how to swim in Animal Crossing here), which means you can also find sea creatures in the ocean. These sea creatures then allow you to use them in different DIY recipies. While it's not technically a sea creature, pearls are similar in how you find and use them.
You may see several recipies involving the use of a pearl. But since they're a rare item, we'll help explain how you can find them.
MORE: How to swim in Animal Crossing summer update
How to find pearls in Animal Crossing
There are a few ways to find pearls in Animal Crossing. The first is the most common, but sometimes difficult, and that's just pure luck. Pearls are hidden throughout the bottom of the ocean floor in Animal Crossing, and they're spread randomly. You can spot one by locating a small black shadow, similar to how you spot sea creatures. Unfortunately I don't have a better answer for you other than to just keep searching the ocean floor for pearls and hope you find some.
The second way to get a pearl is to find a Scallop. When you find a Scallop, Pascal will appear and will want to talk with you. You can exchange the Scallop with him for a number of goods including a mermaid furniture DIY recipe, mermaid-themed clothes or a pearl.
Based on other people's playing experience, Pascal only appears sometimes when you find a Scallop. And since he doesn't provide a pearl every time, this isn't a great way to acquire pearls.
In short, the best way to get pearls is to simply go searching throughout the ocean.