dns record with an '@' as the host name

[Barry Margolin]

In article <m3d7tbpig0.fsf at monjard.orgtek.com>,
Daniel A. Monjar <dmonjar at orgtek.com> wrote:
>
>I was looking at the DNS setup for a friend's domain and noticed this:
>
>----
>> ls pilanet.com
>[NS3.WEB.BELLSOUTH.NET]
>$ORIGIN pilanet.com.
>@			4D IN A		209.238.131.108
>smtp			4D IN A		209.238.131.108
>www			4D IN A		209.238.131.108
>>
>----
>
>I've never seen a host of '@' before.

I'll bet you have.  Many zone files begin with

@  IN SOA ...

>Is it the standard shorthand for, in this case, 'pilanet.com'?  Does
>'nslookup ls' just dump out the configuration records?